A Different Kind of War
by PaleTeen
Summary: Ruth Allman just wanted to save her cow. That's what this whole trip was about in the first place. She definitely didn't sign up for a trip across the region in search of some power hungry mob leader spreading disease across the land. And she certainly didn't ask for these travel partners...
1. Chapter 1

I've always found myself lucky to have a huge family. I mean, don't get me wrong, they can be terrible sometimes. There's moments where everyone's shouting and whining that I just want to lock myself in the bathroom and lay in the bathtub in the fetal position until they all move out. Living in a house of eleven people has taught me the value of alone time and peace and quiet, and how to break up violent fights between twelve year olds as quickly as possible. But despite all the headaches they cause I've learned just how much you miss your family once you can't be around them anymore.

I always wake up early. No matter what day or occasion I'm always up by six; which was exactly what my clock read as I opened my eyes one Sunday morning. Dim sunlight shone through my blinds and birds chirped from outside the window of our old farmhouse. I slid myself out of my bed and changed out of my pajamas into a plain t-shirt and shorts. I groaned as I approached the staircase and thought about just throwing myself down them so I didn't have to put in the effort of doing it properly. Instead I tiptoed down the steps as to not wake up anyone. Skipping the last two incredibly squeaky steps and sneaking through the living room (where my eleven year old brother Kane was passed out, Gameboy in hand) and out the screened in kitchen and onto the porch.

Pink clouds filled the sky and the air smelt like freshly cut grass and sunshine, if that made any sense. I plopped my butt down on the porch, minding for splinters, and let my feet brush the dewy grass. I could already tell that by noon it would be hotter than Satan's living room. My eyes scanned my families land, with its corn fields and big red barns and beautiful scenery. If I had to pick another thing that I'm thankful for, this would be in a close second. Our property was completely enclosed by woods. A mile through the woods to the south would lead you to Seagrass cove, where we buy our groceries. About five miles to the north will get you to Dandelion City. I went there once as kid and all I remember is the smell of gasoline and sweaty people. City life definitely wasn't for me. I'm perfectly content living out in the middle of nowhere for forever, thanks.

I was completely lost in my thoughts when my Aunt poked her brown bobbed head out the screen door, looking fresh faced and invigorated despite the early time. "Ruthie, be a dear and help with breakfast."

"Course," I gave her a bright smile and stood up. "What're we having today?"

"Eggs and bacon and biscuits," She smiled at me and tossed me an oven mitt. "The first batch of biscuits are ready to be taken out, do that while I work on the bacon."

Every Sunday was our big breakfast day. We'd stuff ourselves until we burst, do our chores, then laze around the house until dinner where we'd stuff ourselves again. Every meal here was fantastic, but Sunday meals were extremely fantastic.

About ten minutes later my mom thumped down the stairs, her hair still damp and a tired smile on her face. The similarities between her and her sister were uncanny; same hair, same face, same cheery laugh. She hugged me around the shoulders and told me that Jackie would be downstairs right after her shower. I nodded and continued cooking. Looking at Jackie was like looking in a mirror.

Most people wonder why my family and my aunt and uncle's family live in the same house together, and sometimes when everyone's fighting I do too. But the house is ginormous and we've always been a close family, so it works. Taking care of the farm is a lot easier when it's eleven people working it, too.

Jackie pounded down the stairs like a drunken Phanpy, her pixie cut hair sticking up in all directions and looking like she was going to jump down someone's throat at any second. She threw herself into a chair and laid her head down on the table. I grabbed a plate and filled it for her, dumping pepper all over her eggs like she likes it. I plopped down in the chair next to her and poked her cheek. "Good morning, Jackie dear," I said in my most cheery tone. "Rise and shine sunshine!"

She raised her head slowly, like a vampire in a coffin. The look on her face could strike fear into the hearts of an army, but I was so used to it that I laughed. I placed the plate in front of her and went back to the counter to fix everyone else's plate as my family straggled into the kitchen, groggy but smiling. Jackie and I were the oldest, her being sixteen and me being fifteen. The five other kids were ranging from thirteen to four.

Soon enough the table was filled, the adults talking business and eating, and the kids messing around. Jackie was still half asleep, her head on the table sideways and shoveling eggs into her mouth with one hand. I watched her in disgust.

"That's repulsive."

She glowered at me. "I don't care."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Do you want some coffee, sweetpea?"

She perked up a bit and nodded, and I chuckled, walking back through the saloon doors into the big bright yellow kitchen and started up the coffee maker. She came walking in afterwards, dumping her leftovers and rinsing off her plate while the coffee brewed. "Dad said we're making a run to Seagrass later for some groceries," she announced, leaning up against the counter.

"Who's we?"

"Me and you this time."

"Alrighty, we takin' the cart?"

"Nah. Just a few bags; nothing big."

I nodded and we stood in comfortable silence together for a moment until the coffee timer went off. Jackie bounced over and poured herself a mug. I watched her guzzle it down without pausing to wait for it to cool off. For as smart as Jackie is, she eats like a barbarian.

My dad swung open the doors and leaned up against the counter across from us. He looked sullen. "You two need to come out to the barn with me, I gotta show you somethin'. Don't mention anything to the kids though, I don't wanna upset 'em."

Jackie and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows then chased after my dad, who was already heading outside. We had to sprint across the yard to catch up with my dad's long strides.

He paused at the door of the barn where our Miltank were located for us to catch up. He still looked disturbed, like he wanted to puke. "Now girls, I gotta warn you, Martha's not doing so good. That's why I told you not to tell the kids. I figured you two could handle it though."

My stomach dropped a bit. Martha was our sweet old mama Miltank; she never kicked or bit or acted unruly at all. She was perfectly healthy yesterday…

"Wait, what's wrong with her?" Jackie asked gently, her voice soft. Jackie wanted to be a doctor, maybe she knew what kind of treatment she needed.

Dad just motioned his hand for us to follow him in, and lead us down the rows pins where we keep the pregnant or occasional sick Pokemon. In the very back was Martha, laying on the dirt floor. As we approached she let out a wheeze.

"She looks…" I trailed off, staring at her wheezing frame. She had strange green bruising starting from her udder and going up her sides.

"Pitiful," Jackie finished. "I couldn't even tell you what's wrong. I've never seen this before."

"Me either, hun." My dad turned away from Martha and looked at us. "That's what I wanted you to head to Seagrass for. We don't need groceries; I want you to visit the Professor. Take these pictures of Martha's bruises, and show them to him. He may know how to save her."

Jackie and I looked at each other for another moment and nodded. "Of course. Anything to save her."

* * *

**Authors note:**

**This is my first fanfiction on this site so I hoped you enjoyed it! Please review so I can know what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong.**

**It's placed in a different region from my own imagination, but we wont be seeing any new pokemon. I'm not that creative :) **

**Hopefully the next chapter will be up in a few days. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

Jackie and I sprinted to the field to grab our ponyta, where they were grazing. We hadn't said a word to each other since dad had told us the situation and what we had to do to try to save Martha. There was no telling whether or not it was contagious, or how she had acquired it so our poor mama had to stay in her isolation pen until we got an antidote.

"Do you think it's fatal?" I asked Jackie as we ducked the fence surrounding the pen. She knew way more about diseases than I did.

"I dunno, Ruth. She didn't look good. I've never seen anything like it in my medical journals."

I nodded, and then looked around the field until I spotted Felix. I gave a sharp whistle and watched as he quickly trotted over to me alongside Jackie's, his older sister named Anne. I couldn't help but smile as I watched despite the situation. Felix was my first and only Pokémon, and probably my best friend.

I was never good at talking to people when I went to school as a kid, so making friends was hard. I'd get so nervous that I'd stutter while speaking, or the words would catch in my throat and I wouldn't be able to talk at all. Felix of course didn't care about that. He just cared that I was fair and gentle, and I was. I still planned on making Jackie do all the talking when we got to the Professor's lab.

Felix and Anne had caught up to where we were standing by now, and were patiently waiting for us to tell them what to do next. I stroked his soft neck but made sure to avoid his flaming mane. He'd never burn me on purpose, but he had on accident more times than I can count. The burns on my hands were proof of that.

I stood up on my toes and whispered in his ear. "Hey bud. There's an emergency today, and I need you to take me to Seagrass. One of our miltank is really sick, and we need to visit a guy down there to see if they have a way to make it better. You understand?" (Okay, I know he has no clue what the heck I'm saying, but I always feel like talking to your Pokémon builds a better connection. If you don't treat them like your equal, they're not going to respect you either and then you'll never get anywhere with them.)

He made a huffing sound, which in my world I took to mean a 'yes.' I patted his back and swung myself on top of him. Tapping his hindquarters with my heel, we started up at a trot to catch up with Jackie, who was waiting for me by the dirt road that lead to the village. I followed behind her, which was probably a mistake, seeing as she is the queen of the phrase 'stop and smell the roses' even when we're having an emergency. Finally she managed to irritate me enough to cause me to shout a few profanities at her which, along with her finally speeding up, earned me a sharp glare from over her shoulder.

We rolled into Seagrass about twenty minutes later and made a beeline to the lab, praying the Professor was there. Normally when we visit we stop and hang out on the beach for a while and play in the water, which was permanently luke-warm, but unfortunately now was not the time. We stopped at the front entrance of the lab and practically threw ourselves off of our ponyta. Quickly putting them back in their balls, we rushed through the doors.

I'd never actually been inside the lab, so when I entered I was surprised at the fact that it had a front room and a secretary. It reminded me a bit of a doctor's office. I caught Jackie's eye and glanced back at the lady, letting her know that she would have to be the one to talk. She rolled her eyes at my shyness and walked straight up to the woman, who had surprisingly not looked up from her typing for a second.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" She gave her a bright smile. "The Professor is in, right?"

She gave an annoyed sigh and looked up from her typing. "Do you _children_ have an appointment? Because I can't just have you bursting in willy-nilly, he's a very busy man and has extremely important thing he has to focus on and-"

She was cut off by a potbellied, fifty-something year old man pushing himself through the swinging doors leading into the back rooms. "I'll be right back Janine; I gotta run by my house and pick up some paperwork. Wait, who do we have here?" His watery blue eyes locked onto us for a moment, before he shot us a blinding grin. "It's the Allman girls! What brings you here?"

The secretary gave him an incredulous look, but seemed to decide to just pretend we weren't there.

I silently handed him the photos of Martha's bruising and stepped back quickly, letting Jackie do all the explaining.

"Well, Professor Cypress, our miltank came down with this overnight, we have no clue what caused it. The bruising is so strange, I've never heard of anything like it. We didn't figure it'd be safe to transport her, or if it was contagious, or, ya know, deadly…" She trailed off saidly, voicing my worst fear.

The professor's face had turned from cheerful to grave in a second. "Come with me," he said, turning completely around and walking into the back room without another word. Jackie and looked at each other in confusion for a moment, then ran after him.

The actual lab part of the laboratory was a lot like I always pictured it as a kid. Spacious with all white walls and about fifteen different high-tech looking computers beeping and aide's scurrying around, chattering and printing off charts. The professor lead us to a desk in the back and tapped dark haired aide on the shoulder. He leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. The young man nodded and threw us an odd glance, pulled up an article of some sort and printed off two copies quickly while we all waited behind him. He handed them to the professor, who motioned us to follow him again into his office. He flipped on a lamp on his desk, illuminating the small room. He motioned for us to sit in the two chairs in front of his desk, then sunk into his own, the grave look still plastered onto his face.

"Its happening sooner than I figured.." He said, more to himself than to us. He looked up slowly and stared at us sadly. I've never seen him look more defeated. "I'm going to assume you girls have no clue whats going on?"

We both silently shook our heads. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that this wasn't going to be pleasant news.

He sighed again. "Didn't think so. They've all done a good job of keeping it hushed up I suppose. Well, since it's directly affecting you girls, I guess you should be enlightened on the err, situation."

I wiggled in my seat and pulled at my collar, wishing he'd just get on with it instead of stalling. My nerves were going crazy.

"You've heard of the Guardians, right? Y'know, the Guardians of Power, Light, and Health. I'm sure you've heard the legends."

"Yeah, of course." Jackie said, and I nodded. Our parents had told us the stories as kids. Three legendary Pokemon that go by 'the guardians' and protect a certain part aspect of our lives. They're supposedly located in different areas of the region and protect their legendary stones, which hold a lot of their power. Obviously, these are just silly stories our parents told us, Like Santa Clause. I had no clue where the Professor was going with this.

"Well, they're not myths. These are real Pokemon, always have been." He chuckled a little when he saw our incredulous faces. "It's good that people thought they're fake since then no one even thought to try to control them. Anyway, Team Mercury found out they're real and have been after them for a while. I'm sure you know about those cretins, they've been all over the news for the past two years."

"I haven't heard much about them lately, they've been keeping to themselves a lot." Jackie mumbled. We had been thinking the same thing, that they were up to something.

"They've been planning, it seems. And they planned well. We never even thought to try stop them since we figured it'd be impossible for them to get their hands on any of the stones. But it seems we were mistaken. They've stolen the Health Guardian's stone. And it's already taking affect. Pokemon are catching diseases we've never even seen before, but the most common one is this one," he said, holding up the picture of Martha's bruising. "It's not deadly. But it's crippling. It affects the nervous system, if they can walk afterwards it's shaky at best. Sixty percent end up permanently paralyzed. I don't know what they think they're doing by stealing it: if they're trying to prove something or what. They may even be going after all three..." He trailed off nervously. He didn't even have to say what would happen if they got a hold of all three stones, we could only guess.

"So...What can anyone do?" Jackie asked. "Has the government sent out people to stop them?"

The Professor laughed so hard I thought he was going to tell us the whole thing was a joke. "Oh, girls. You don't think the government actually cares, do you? They've been wanting to get a hold of the stones for years. This is just like people doing their dirty work. Once they get all three the government officials will probably buy it off of them, then use it for their own gain. No, if we want anything done we'll have to take care of it ourselves."

* * *

**This is kinda a weird place to stop, but I haven't got anything posted in so long due to my computer crashing I figured I should get at least a bit of the story out. I hope you enjoyed it, tell me what you think :) **


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